Local wildlife dealers and trappers are to meet later in the week to discuss proposals on how the embargo on wild caught birds by the European Union (EU) can be mitigated.
The EU amid a bird flu scare imposed the embargo in October of 2005. Since then, rules have been made even stiffer. Secretary of the Wildlife Association Thelma Reece told Stabroek News yesterday that a number of birds exported from Suriname to the EU had died as a result of bird flu which had apparently been contracted in the UK from other birds.
A BBC report on the October 2005 incident stated that a parrot from Suriname died from bird flu in quarantine in the UK and had the H5N1 strain that has killed many persons across Asia and in other parts.
The Ministry of Agriculture was credited, according to Reece, with assisting exporters by providing veterinarians to ensure no bird flu strains prevail among the birds. The vets, she said, have been isolating the birds among other things to monitor and contain any possible contraction or spread of the virus.
A 24-year veteran of the wildlife trade, Reece stated they were looking to come up with new strategies to approach the EU about the embargo which is crippling the local wildlife industry. She noted that at the moment no birds were being exported. Among the proposals is a request for compensation from the EU for the association’s members to feed and properly maintain the birds already in captivity.
This was so she said because persons with birds have to either release them back into the wild or feed them. Consequently the association is putting together a proposal that would be passed to the Head of the Wildlife Division Alona Sankar who would then make the necessary approach to the EU.
“Depending on how serious the reports are they would come to terms with us,” Reece said. “We have to come good to prove that we are affected,” she added. She noted also that members have been losing “quite a lot” since they cannot sell birds. She noted that the Singapore market has just begun to approach a semblance of its operations before the market was closed. Wildlife exporters are now limited to sourcing markets for mammals and some reptiles in the interim.
According to a report early in January on the EU Business site, EU food chain and veterinary experts decided to replace the ban with strict new guidelines that go beyond the rules put in place before the embargo was imposed in October 2005 amid the bird flu scare.
Under the new rules, all birds caught in the wild, such as falcons or parakeets, will remain barred from entering the EU. “Given the high risk of infection from wild birds, only birds bred in captivity and in approved breeding establishments will be allowed to enter the EU,” the commission said in a statement.
All birds that are imported will have to have a leg-ring or microchip and may not be vaccinated while the absence of avian influenza and Newcastle disease in the country of origin will have to be proved. Imported birds will also be subject to a quarantine of at least 30 days.
The number of exporting countries will also be kept to those approved to export live poultry to the EU: Australia, certain states in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Israel, New Zealand and the United States.
“Such measures are crucial to maintaining the highest possible level of animal health protection in the EU,” said Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou. “The devastation that the H5N1 avian influenza virus has caused globally serves as a reminder that we can take no chances in this area,” he added.
